Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The House will know that Shane O'Farrell was 23 years of age when he was killed in a hit-and-run on 2 August 2011 by Zigimantas Gridziuska, a known criminal who had breached several bail conditions at the time and had 42 previous convictions in three different jurisdictions. Since Shane's death, his family have sought to get the truth of why the man who killed their son was in a position to do so when he should have been in prison and certainly should not have been on the road in Carrickmacross that fateful evening. I welcome Shane's family here today.

In 2018, the Dáil supported a motion for the establishment of a public inquiry. Among the Members who insisted that only such an inquiry could get the full facts of these matters was the Fianna Fáil leader and current Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin. Rather than implementing the decision of the Dáil, the then Government established a scoping exercise. Many, myself included, feared the exercise was an attempt to delay. Regrettably, the reality is worse than I feared. It now seems it is the Government's intention that the scoping exercise not just delay the truth but act as a barrier against getting it.

The Minister will know that many aspects of the scoping report have been challenged by Shane O'Farrell's family. It is not acceptable that our Government has refused to provide time for a full debate on its contents. This is something I will continue to seek. Zigimantas Gridziuska is solely responsible for the death of Shane O'Farrell, nobody else, and certainly not Shane himself. A crucial question that has not been answered is why this man was in a position to crash into a young Carrickmacross lad, kill him and leave the scene, when he clearly should have been in prison in light of multiple breaches of multiple bail conditions set by multiple courts.

Every single person who understands these matters to whom to I have spoken privately, including many members of An Garda Síochána, have arrived at the same theory. They believe that Mr. Gridziuska must have been a Garda informer. The O'Farrell family has established that there is a file on Mr. Gridziuska in the Garda national crime, security and intelligence service, but they do not know what is on that file. They deserve to know. The only way they will find out is if the Minister finally accedes to implementing the decision of the House to establish an independent public inquiry into this case.

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